Its time for a feminist narrative to change corporate Culture in India . Gender diversity initiatives in most Indian corporates ( whether Indian or MNC's) have been passive, copy international practices and usually not effective. Throwing policy at our massive cultural inertia is like trying to use a Maruti 800 to change the course of an on rushing train . If you have been oblivious to these challenges sample this

A hiring team at the MBA HR programme in University of Delhi asked one of my best students- if she plans to get married in the near future, apparently they were afraid of “attrition”

A client which did not take forward a woman candidate because - the CEO had a problem with her not being married in her late 30's ! that’s the last time I worked for them- but I got to know that this was not an aberration but an unwritten policy. Apparently he could not reconcile the single status to his concept of a "woman"

A business leader I know was told by her reporting manager that the reason for her sub- par performance rating was that the organisation carried her through her extended maternity crisis!

A friend from college was told that her rating was below par because she did not ask/ push for higher one like the boys!

Advertising campaigns by some of the best MNC's in the world are a mirror to some of our most entrenched biases-

Hindustan Unilever- they have sustained one of the most archaic body shaming campaigns in the history of the world - in the guise of "fair and lovely" and then their HR and CSR team talks about gender equality.

Whether its Pediasure or Complan most of the nutrition advertisements have a "boy" in the central role and the girls in the periphery if not non-existent- the companies understand a male child will make parents dip into their pockets more easily

Most Insurance campaigns are invariably sexist- focusing on the "provider man" and the protected woman.

I can go on and on but then this will sound like page from the every day sexism project; But unique to India and some other SE Asian Countries is a cultural artifact which has defined everything from gender ratios to education choices to even nutrition !! this is the sense of entitlement most of the Indian males inherit.

I have seen it manifest in curious ways

Men negotiate compensation more vigorously and make the most outrageous demands sound as their right - Most women just give up or give in- depending on how much they want the role. Interestingly the recruiting team language also changes- men negotiating are aggressive and women negotiating are being difficult to close!!

Interview panels confuse “entitlement” infused responses with confidence and patriarchal leadership definitions Sample this “I took hard decisions to reduce the workfore by 10% during recession” vs. Woman candidate “At the suggestion of the CFO, I worked with the HR team and right-sized the organisation by 10%”. Guess what constitutes leadership according to male panelists.

Asking for resources can range from demand to polite request- guess what gets more attention ? ! and the more resources you have the more are your chances of success

When I was teaching I found that some of the best students – who happened to be women needed that little dose of confidence building to get placements which did justice to their potential.

It has a flip side too- I’ve seen women being more resilient to crisis then men- maybe they have got used to it !! -During the 2008 crisis I found women leaders/ executives who lost jobs react in a more resilient manner than the men -who didn’t know what to do when the fig leaf of a designation was removed.

So its time to take the gloves off, cultural inertia does not change with policy nudges or issuing politically correct statements – it requires activism and the stamina to bear the ensuing pain , confrontation and hard-work to make institutional changes.

Omar Farooq

p.s.- One of the better sources of feminism in India is- the website feminism in India . An international source which gives stories that document every day struggle for women is the everyday sexism project- which now covers 20 countries

The cartoon above is from leftycartoons and in the title is from XKCD.